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Diego Flores, 10, and his mother Fabiola Flores were writing a paragraph about their travels during the two years since they left Chile for the United States.

The fourth-grader wrote the story as his mother pasted information onto the poster they were creating. "The Orozco Family," read the banner she placed across the top of the poster.

The Flores were among the 95 families taking part in Family Night at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring last week. Children of all ages and their parents spent an hour working together writing, cutting, pasting and coloring posters about their families. The activity celebrated the diversity of the school's families and showed parents ways to encourage their children to write better.

"The program increases family involvement in education and increases the students' connection to the school," Susan Freiman, staff development teacher and coordinator of the night's events, said.

The evening started with pizza for all and storytime for the students while their parents attended a PTA meeting. It was the first of a series of six Family Learning Nights scheduled throughout the school year. Other Family Learning Nights will highlight reading, math, testing information, science and summer learning opportunities.

"The value is to bring the community together and share the resources so [parents] can enhance the skills [students] learn," Ana Nava, parent community coordinator at Viers Mill, said. "It's a link [between school and home] if the parents know what is going on."

While Diego wrote about their stay in California and a visit to Disneyland before moving to Maryland, he and his mother talked about things they had done together.

"She is very artistic," Diego said as his mother carefully snipped the edge of another paper into a decorative shape before placing it on the poster.

"This is very interesting and fun," Fabiola Flores said.

She and Diego attended one Family Night last year and plan to attend more this year.

Alex Hyde, 7, a second-grader, is a new student at Viers Mill. He worked with his parents, Lakisha and Alan Hyde, and his stepbrother, James Wiggins, 10, a fifth-grader at Burning Tree Elementary School in Bethesda.

Families were scattered in different rooms throughout the school and in the media center. Alan Hyde liked that students and parents from different grades were mixed together.

"That gives the youngest a chance to see what the older kids do and learn from them," he said.

While the families worked on their posters, staff members took photos of each family group to put on the finished works.

"We will hang the posters on the walls of the school to celebrate our diversity and to showcase [the] writing," said Freiman, noting that Viers Mill has a diverse population.

The school is 61 percent Hispanic, 14 percent African American, 12 percent Caucasian, 11 percent Asian and 1 percent Native American, according to the Montgomery County Public Schools Web site.

"Seventy percent of our parents are non-English speaking," Principal Matthew Devan said.

At the end of the evening, everyone gathered in the all-purpose room and the students were given books to take home. Devan encouraged them to read aloud to their parents and many did just that.

Although it was almost nine o'clock on a school night, most families stayed, reading, talking with other families and just enjoying the time together.

"Its unbelievable, when it was an idea it was one thing but this is what life should be, families together," Freiman said.